THE GOLD LAB SYMPOSIUM – The Ultimate Synthesis of Science and Humanity

I wrote a book about communicating science. At the core of what I have to say are two words — arouse and fulfill. Almost all science symposia know how to fulfill. Boy, do they know how to fulfill — just look at the weary scientists at the airport heading home with overloaded brains.

At the other end we now have the TED Talks, which know how to arouse, but generally provide such a smattering of topics that they lack a focus (which is somewhat to their credit). But last weekend I got to experience a symposium which managed to run the full spectrum. In my book I talk about the need to engage all four organs — the head, the heart, the gut and the hoo-ha organ. This was a symposium that truly, truly, truly did it. And did so in grand style.

It was almost as if the organizer of the symposium, legendary biotech guru Dr. Larry Gold, had sat down with a list of the four organs and said, “How are we going to hit all four bases?”

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By 2050 or so, the human population is expected to pass nine billion. Those billions will be seeking food, water and other resources on a planet where humans are already shaping climate and the web of life. Dot Earth was created by Andrew Revkin in October 2007 -- in part with support from a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship -- to explore ways to balance human needs and the planet's limits.